#1 (46) Def Leppard vs. #16 (979) Plain White T's
#8 (467) Loverboy vs. #9 (558) Will Smith
#5 (302) Gwen Steffani vs. #12 (723) Candlebox
#4 (211) 311 vs. #13 (814) Wire
#3 (174) Boston vs. #14 (851) Doves
#6 (339) Barry White vs. #11 (686) David Gray
#7 (430) Survivor vs. #10 (595) Fastball
#2 (83) The Beastie Boys vs. #15 (942) The Lightning Seeds

#8 (467) Loverboy vs. #9 (558) Will Smith
Tough vote. I'll go with 'Fingernails scraped across a chalkboard'.
#13 (814) Wire
311's got some really good singles, but Wire is way better.
#14 (851) Doves
#6 (339) Barry White
#10 (595) Fastball
A few very good singles.
#2 (83) The Beastie Boys

Def Leppard... 'Pyromania' is a great album...
Loverboy... Whatever happened to the 'Willenium'???
Candlebox... Not bananas for Gwen...
311...
Boston... Doves, great band, but Boston, ultimate guilty pleasure...
Barry... Like David Gray, but...
Survivor... It's all about "Eye Of The Tiger"...
Beasties... "Pure" was a great song, but overall the Seeds can't even come close to The Beastie Boys...

#1 Def Leppard
#8 Loverboy
...
#13 Wire
#3 Boston
#6 Barry White
...
#15 The Lightning Seeds

#1 (46) Def Leppard ugh
#8 (467) Loverboy ugh
#5 (302) Gwen Steffani
#13 (814) Wire
#3 (174) Boston
#6 (339) Barry White
#7 (430) Survivor
#2 (83) The Beastie Boys

Great matchup for Wire!

#1 (46) Def Leppard
#8 (467) Loverboy
#5 (302) Gwen Steffani
#13 (814) Wire
#3 (174) Boston
#6 (339) Barry White
#7 (430) Survivor
#2 (83) The Beastie Boys

Wire

Only band I remotely care about this week, so this will be the only matchup I vote in.

#1 (46) Def Leppard
#8 (467) Loverboy
#5 (302) Gwen Steffani
#13 (814) Wire
#3 (174) Boston
#6 (339) Barry White
#10 (595) Fastball
#2 (83) The Beastie Boys

Re: the first two matchups - is the greatest rock lyric of all time "Step inside/Walk this way/You and me, babe/Hey, hey!" or "You want a piece of my heart/You better start from the start"? Discuss.

1. Def Leppard
8. Loverboy
5. Gwen Steffani
13. Wire
14. Doves
11. David Gray
10. Fastball
15. the Lightning Seeds

Wire
The Beastie Boys

#1 (46) Def Leppard
#9 (558) Will Smith
#5 (302) Gwen Steffani
#13 (814) Wire
#14 (851) Doves
#11 (686) David Gray
#7 (430) Survivor
#2 (83) The Beastie Boys

Wire
Beastie Boys

1. Def Leppard
I cannot emphasize strongly enough how much I am passing on the 8/9.
5. Gwen Stefani
13. Wire (So, it’s #13 Wire vs. #4 311…this is David with a laser-scoped rifle at a range of five feet against an unarmed drunken Goliath with a crippling neurological disorder.)
14. Doves
6. Barry White
10. Fastball (a good Texas band)
2. Beastie Boys

****

MOST UNDERRATED
Wire (UMT 814, AM 189).

MOST OVERRATED
Def Leppard (UMT 46, AM 314); Barry White (UMT 339, AM 1062); Gwen Stefani (UMT 302, AM 896).

NOT AM RANKED
311, Survivor, Loverboy, Will Smith, Fastball, Candlebox, Lightning Seeds, Plain White T’s.

CLOSEST
Doves (UMT 851, AM 750).

and even more 80s goodness...

#1 Def Leppard - For a brief time in 1987, they were pretty much the kings of the world
#9 Will Smith - This was a tough call...two acts that are ok, not great, in my book. Both had decent but not spectacular careers, neither was particularly innovative or deep in their musicality. I gave Will Smith the nod because he was overall a little more successful, but it's a really close pick.
#5 Gwen Stefani - not a huge fan, but less so of Candlebox
pass
#3 Boston - "More Than A Feeling" always makes me think of the "airband" episode of "Scrubs"
#6 Barry White
#7 Survivor - several classic 80s songs
#2 Beastie Boys - For the US chart history buffs..."License to Ill" was the first Billboard #1 album by a rap artist

Today's favorite: Survivor, though it's close with Def Leppard and Boston
Today's favorite I didn't vote for: Loverboy

Winners in #40...
Def Leppard 100% / Plain White T's 0%
Loverboy 54.2% / Will Smith 45.8%
Gwen Steffani 62.5% / Candlebox 37.5%
Wire 51.7% / 311 48.3%
Boston 73.1% / Doves 26.9%
Barry White 77.8% / David Gray 22.2%
Survivor 56.0% / Fastball 44.0%
Beastie Boys 92.9% / Lightning Seeds 7.1%

Boston beat Doves? Are you kidding me? I thought with the new decade this whole idiotic lame 80s guilty pleasure trend would end.The joke was funny and cute for about 5 minutes. Now it's just run it's course. Enough with lame being cool. A perfectly fine underrated band just got their asses kicked by Boston. Talk about injustice.

1. As a posterboy for cheesy 80s music, Boston is not a good example. AM ranks them 383, and they have a decent critical following. For this bracket, the mantle of Pointless 80s Crap clearly belongs to Loverboy.

2. In my opinion, people don't grow out of the music they grow up with, so I expect "More Than a Feeling", which rocked when I was 18, and rocks now that I'm 38, will also rock when I'm 58, 78 and 98, and beyond when my brain is uploaded to the digital hypernet sometime in the next century.

3. How about a quick poll? Anyone here influenced by watching Glee?

One of the few things I am proud of in life is never watching Idol, Dancing with people who think they're stars, useless talent shows or Glee. As for a great band like Doves (There Goes The Fear, Pounding, Black And White Town, Catch The Sun etc...) I wish they were going up against a Loverboy or a Survivor. Boston is a good band that had stood the test of time.

Never saw it, don't understand the connection. I simply like the Doves less.